War worsens climate and environmental challenges in Ukraine

War worsens climate and environmental challenges in Ukraine

While Ukraine has made significant progress in climate action since the 2010s, and undertaken efforts to align its environmental strategy with EU standards, Russia's invasion in 2022 has contributed to environmental devastation due to the release of potentially toxic elements resulting from military activities. The war has also hampered the country's ability to monitor and respond to changes in the environment, according to a new JRC report.

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in the southern part of Ukraine in June 2023 caused serious ecological and social consequences. The dam fracture led to the emptying of 16.4 cubic kilometers of water - 110,000 people and 60,000 buildings were affected by the flood. We talk about the ecological consequences with the microbiologist Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Grossart.

While Ukraine has made significant progress in climate action since the 2010s and has made efforts to align its environmental strategy with EU standards, the invasion of Russia in 2022 has contributed to environmental devastation due to the release of potentially toxic elements resulting from military activities. [...]

This review was published in the spring issue of 2025 of Foreign Policy (No. 1/2025). Diana-Paula Gherasim, researcher at the Center for Energy and Climate in Ifri, offers an analysis of Pierre Charbonnier's book, Towards the Ecology of War. An Environmental History of Peace (La Découverte, 2024, 324 pages). This book aims to mark the paradigm shift in climate policies at the turn of the 2020s: with the war in Ukraine, for the first time, the en…

Ukraine's worst wildfire year ever driven by war, climate change

New research published by the European Union found Russia’s ongoing invasion has worsened environmental challenges in Ukraine, including ongoing wildfire trends. The risk of large forest fires has “significantly increased” in the nation. The country’s worst wildfire years happened over the last 5 years, by far the worst of which was in 2024, the EU … Continue reading "War sparked Ukraine’s worst wildfire year in history" The post War sparked Ukr…